More than just childhood friends
by Caya Strife
Summary: Misty is presented with an opportunity she has longed for since she even got to know about Pokémon and now has to decide whether she takes the offer or risks her friendship w Ash.
1. Default Chapter

More than just childhood friends

More than just childhood friends By Tifa_Lockheart_Nibelheim

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon, the characters or any of the locations, except for the things I myself created, as well as the plot. I do not intend to earn any money with this and simply wrote the story for my own amusement. 

Chapter 1: The letter

It was a wonderful morning in Pallet Town. Mrs. Ketchum was outside, working in the garden. Mr. Mime, as usual, ran around with a brush in his hands to clean up everything – and everyone! – that was not moving. Including Ash, who, during the night, had fallen out of his bed and was now lying on the floor.

As the Pokémon brushed over his face once again, Ash jerked up, half jumping into the air.

Breathing very fast, he stood there in the middle of his room, staring at the smiling Pokémon.

"What do you think you're doing? Can't you just clean up the floor? I don't need to be brushed!" Ash shouted.

Brock, who was woken by this one sided argument, dizzily looked up, then spotted Ash and Mr. Mime.

"Oh no, not this again", he mumbled quietly and fell back down into his bed.

The door opened and Misty walked in, obviously overhearing the argument.

"You sure you don't need to be brushed, Ash?" Misty asked teasingly. 

But before Ash could reply, she continued.

"Actually, it's already late. Mr. Mime should have woken you two much earlier."

Ash sighed and gave up the argument with Mr. Mime. Even Brock finally opened his eyes and sat up.

"Hurry up, your mom and I already got the table set for breakfast." Misty said. "Although it's almost time for lunch now."

With those words, she left the boys and went outside to check the mailbox. As Misty and Brock had already been staying at the Ketchum's house for some months now, their mail was delivered there directly, instead of first to the gym they called their home, and then forwarded to their new address. 

On her way to the mailbox, she was interrupted by Mrs. Ketchum. 

"Misty-dear!" she yelled and waved at the read haired girl. "How are Ash and Brock? Have they gotten up yet? You know, Misty-dear, I have an excursion planned for this afternoon!"

Misty smiled back at Mrs. Ketchum.

"Don't worry, Mrs. Ketchum. Ash was woken by Mr. Mime, just like always. And Brock couldn't sleep over that argument. I bet they'll be ready in some minutes."

"Oh, thank you very much, Misty dear!" replied Mrs. Ketchum with a broad, relieved smile on her face.

Misty nodded and continued on her way, smiling to herself.

Finally, she reached the mailbox and opened it. Inside, she found what seemed to be a mountain of letters, postcards and small parcels. 

She took them all into one arm, closed the mailbox and went back inside. There, once arrived in the kitchen, she went through the mail and sorted it by receiver.

Mrs. Ketchum got lots of vacation postcards and some thin letters Misty assumed to be bills. All this was followed by a postcard for Ash and a letter for Brock, seemingly from either Prof. Ivy, whom he had left some months ago, or from his father and his whole bunch of sisters and brothers. 

And one single letter for her. 

Misty frowned. Hopefully not one from my sisters, she thought. I really don't need one of their bad jokes or teasing comments right now.

She turned it around several times before she recognized the stamp on it. Curiously, she opened the envelope, unfolded the letter in it and read the written lines.

It was not from her sisters, neither from anybody else she knew. 

It was something more important. 

Something she had always wished for before she stated wandering around with Ash and Pikachu. 

But she actually hadn't expected it.

Not now.

Not at this very moment, when she was happy with everything just the way it was.

She folded the letter and put it back into the white envelope.

Leaning her back against the wall, she hung her head low and closed her eyes.

Why now? She thought. If she had received this news two years earlier, she would've gladly taken the offer without any second thought. But now, everything had changed.

"Hey Misty, what's up? Got any bad news? Any letter from your sis?" Ash asked, walking in, now fully dressed and with Pikachu sitting on his hat. As he saw the concerned look on Misty's face, his face showed deep care.

"You alright, Misty?" he asked again.

Misty woke from her daydream and simply nodded, hiding the letter in the back pocket of her jeans.

"Ok then." Ash shrugged and sat down at the table, taking a donut and a cup of milk.

Misty tried to look like she always did, but she didn't succeed. One still could see the worried look in her eyes.

Soon they were joined by Brock and Mrs. Ketchum. While everybody was eating, they checked their mail. After Mrs. Ketchum hat read her postcards with a smile growing at each line read, after having opened all her bills with sighs at each one, she turned over to Misty to see that she was just sipping her coffee, seemingly absent-minded. 

"Didn't you get anything, Misty dear?" she asked, the almost always-present smile on her face fainting a bit.

Misty looked up, forcing a smile.

"No, Mrs. Ketchum. This is all the mail. There wasn't anything for me." She replied.

At least nothing I wanted to get.

The whole afternoon, meaning the excursion to the beach Mrs. Ketchum had planned, went pretty well. Once they had arrived at the beach, Misty had been able to forget about the letter she received and just enjoyed the wonderful weather and had fun with Ash, Brock and the Pokémon. 

But in the evening, when they had had dinner and everybody was getting ready for bed, Misty sat down in her room alone and once again took the letter out of her pocket. Slowly, half hoping that the content had changed, she read it over and over again, just wanting to be sure she had gotten everything right and didn't misunderstand anything.

She didn't. No matter how often she read those words, they just didn't change. They still made a great offer that threatened to change everything she was now so proud of.

"Hey Misty", Brock said, opening the door to see the girl sitting on her bed, hugging her small egg Pokémon tightly. 

"Can I come in?" he asked. 

Misty nodded, putting away the letter and turned towards Brock.

"Sure", she answered, hardly pulling up the strength to force a smile and raise her voice without sounding quivery. 

Brock now fully opened the door and joined Misty.

"Misty, what's up? And now don't tell me it's nothing. You've been behaving totally strange the whole day since breakfast."

Misty looked down for an instance, wondering if she should tell him about the offer she got. 

I just should do, she thought. So I have somebody to give my advice. And I surely can't go to Ash.

She unfolded the letter and handed it over to Brock.

"I got it this morning. It is a letter from the Pokémon University, the one near Seafoam Island."

At first, Brock simply stared at Misty, frowning, unbelieving, then started to read the letter.

_Dear Ms Yawa __(a/n: that's Misty's last name in Japanese__), _

_ _

_As you certainly remember, you applied for a place at our university approximately two years ago. But due to your young age and the high amount of applies we received over the past years, we have not been able to accept you into our facility yet. As you have now reached the appropriate age and have earned an impressive reputation as a Pokémon Trainer, we are now very glad to be able to offer you a place for your studies. Hopefully, you will take this great chance, which opens new paths for your future life and career in Pokémon business. We all wish you the best and know that you have the best requirements needed not only to become a Pokémon Trainer of the first grade, but whatever you wish to accomplish. _

_If you should accept our offer, we would be glad to welcome you at Seafoam Island by the end of this week._

_ _

_Yours sincerely,_

_ _

_Prof. Sycamore_

_ _

Brock slowly put the letter down and looked at Misty.

"I see", he said. "This has been your dream for a very long time, hasn't it?"

Misty nodded, sadness showing on her face.

"It has. And I really would love to go to that University, you know, but…"

Brock obviously knew exactly what she wanted but couldn't say.

"It's just that…", Misty continued. "I've gotten so used to travel around with you two and our Pokémon. I just don't know if I could make it on that University for five years without seeing you everyday or getting lost in the woods just cuz Ash reads the map upside down again…"

At those words she smiled, remembering all the times they had been on track for a certain destination, but had totally lost their way and finally ended up somewhere in the exact opposite direction.

But somehow, it had always been lots of fun. And she would never wanted to miss anything of that, though she surely had complained about it more than necessary when they had been lost, just to start up another fight with Ash. 

"Well, Misty", Brock replied, waking her from her daydream, "It's your choice. Nobody of us could make this decision for you. As you know, I'd love to go on traveling around with you like we use to, and I bet Ash thinks the same. But I also think that this is a great chance for you I for myself would not deny. And I would never be angry if you did. So, whatever choice you will make, you can be sure of my support."

Misty smiled thankfully, but hesitated. Actually, she had made this decision years ago, even before she had written that appliance. All she had to do was plug up the courage to tell everybody. But even if she didn't want to admit it, she was afraid. She was afraid of everybody's reaction. Especially of Ash's. 

When it came to things like this, he could be really stubborn and selfish.

But though she liked Ash, and she knew this was even more than simple liking, a lot more, she couldn't always base her life on him, could she?

No.

She definitely couldn't.

She had to live her own life.

And this was the first step to start.

Misty looked up at Brock, but now a lot more self confident than before.

She was going to go to that university.

And she had four days left to get used to it. 

The night was over very soon, or at least it seemed so to Misty. She had decided to tell everybody at breakfast. Though she somehow still feared the reactions, she was sure about it, wasn't she?

From the kitchen, she could hear Mrs. Ketchum preparing breakfast, and, as it seemed, Ash and Brock were already up.

Misty sighed and sat up in bed, waking Togepi at the same time.

"Toge Priiii?" the small, sleepy Pokémon asked, gazing up at her mommy.

Misty smiled and petted Togepi`s head. 

"It's time to get up, sweetie. Today I'm gonna tell everybody."

"Togepi?"

She smiled again, then got up and dressed in her casual clothes. She left her room and entered the kitchen where she met the others. It seemed that Ash and Brock hadn't had problems getting up that day. Maybe Mr. Mime has just started cleaning their room a bit earlier today, Misty thought smiling.

"Pika Pi!" Pikachu shouted, greeting the red-haired girl. 

"Good morning, Misty", Mrs. Ketchum said. "Did you have a good night?"

"Oh, sure, Mrs. Ketchum. Thank you." Misty replied and took her seat at the table.

Ash greeted her between his constant yawning-inhaling pancakes circulation. 

Brock looked over at Misty a few times, obviously waiting for her to tell everybody about her decision. 

Although his eyes were still half closed cuz of yawning, Ash noticed Brock's quick glances. 

"What's up, Brock? 'S anything wrong?"

Brock shook his head and returned his attention to his breakfast. At the end of the meal, Mrs. Ketchum just wanted to stand up to start cleaning the dishes.

"Umm, Mrs. Ketchum, could you please stay for another few minutes? There's something I would like to tell everybody."

"Uh, sure, Misty dear." Mrs. Ketchum replied and sat down again. Ash looked at Misty curiously, wondering what she would tell everybody she hadn't told him yet. He even stopped eating – and yawning – for some minutes. 

"Well… yesterday I got a letter", Misty began. "About two years ago, I applied for being accepted into Pokémon University near Seafoam Island. And… well… umm… yesterday I got the letter which said that they finally do accept me."

Mrs. Ketchum's face showed pride and joy, and even some tears could be seen sparkling in her eyes.

"Oh Misty dear! This is wonderful! It's such a great chance for you, such honor! I hope you accept the offer?!"

Misty nodded, more confident now.

Ash's face froze. Misty was gonna leave them? Why? And, even more important, when?

"So when will you depart?" Ash asked, his mouth dry. 

Misty looked over at him, and as soon as she saw the look on his face, she felt bad, really bad. 

"Umm… they're expecting me at Seafoam Island by the end of this week."

Mrs. Ketchum started to cry more now.

"Oh Misty dear, do you really have to leave that soon? We will miss you so much! You have to phone me every day!"

All those tears also affected Misty and the two women hugged while Ash was still in a daze.

Pikachu and Togepi were looking at each other, obviously not wholly understanding what was going on.

Inside Ash's head, wheels began turning and thoughts ran through his mind. 

Chapter 2: Reactions

Ash stared at Misty, his mind in a daze.

Going to university? Misty? This was just unbelievable. Though Ash didn't know why, he felt strange like he would be abandoned, left behind like a pet whose owner had no use for it anymore. 

All he knew now was that he wanted to be alone.

Misty was hugging his mom, and Brock was taking care of confused crying little Togepi. So Ash simple stood up, left the kitchen and went into his room, without saying another word. 

He slammed the door behind him and threw himself onto his bed. 

Pikachu, who had followed his trainer, jumped onto his belly and looked at him questioningly. 

"Pika Pi Pikachu?" the small Pokémon asked, moving his long ears up and down to the sound of his squeaky voice.

"I don't know, Pikachu. I just wanted to get outta there. I…"

Ash was totally confused. He just didn't know what he felt, what these feelings meant.

Softly, a tear rolled down his cheek.

"Pikaaa." Pikachu said, placing his little paw on Ash's arm, silently comforting him. 

A few seconds later, Ash burst into tears. He wasn't able to control himself anymore.

Uncontrollably, he sobbed into his arms, hugging his small yellow Pokémon tight. 

"But, Misty dear", continued Mrs. Ketchum. "You have to phone me at least once, no, twice a week. Or better, every day!"

Misty smiled and tried to calm the woman, who acted like her mother since she knew her, down.

"Sure, I will, Mrs. Ketchum. But there's till three full days left."

Togepi had finally stopped crying, and was now walking over this its mommy. 

"Priiii!" the small Pokémon shouted and waved its arms, indicating it wanted to be hugged. 

Misty smiled and took the baby Pokémon into her arms, turning around to speak to Ash.

"Ash, I…"

Misty blinked, finally realizing that Ash was gone. 

She looked around the kitchen to find him.

"Hey, Ash!"

No reply.

"I guess he's in his room", Mrs. Ketchum suggested. "He always goes there when he's upset or confused, our just wants to be alone."

A sad look came to the young girl's face. 

I didn't mean to confuse him, or upset him, she thought. I just wanted to… I…

Misty had great difficulties in holding back her tears, but she just didn't want to let everybody know what she felt about this matter. 

Brock cleared his throat and got up from his seat.

"I'll go and look for him. Maybe I can find out what's wrong with him."

Misty nodded thankfully.

A real friend, she thought. 

He must be feeling really bad now, Brock thought as he made his way to Ash's room. Though I can also understand Misty's point of view, and God knows, she struggled a lot with herself about taking or denying the offer.

As Brock reached Ash's (as well as his and Misty's) room, he carefully knocked on the door, trying to get Ash's attention.

After having knocked four times with any reaction, he finally decided to walk in, no matter what Ash would say.

He tried on the door, but it was locked. Brock frowned.

Strange, he thought, normally Ash never locks it…

"Hey Ash! You in there?" Brock half shouted through the door.

"…yeah." Came Ash's answer in a low voice.

"Can I come in please?" Brock asked once again, and some seconds later, he heard a clicking sound from the lock.

"Door's open." Ash murmured from inside. 

Brock turned the doorknob and entered the room.

He looked around to find Ash lying on his bed, his official Pokémon League Cap covering the very upper part of his face.On his tummy sat Pikachu, looking up at Brock curiously. 

The older boy went over to Misty's bed, which was now right opposite to Ash's, and slowly sat down on it.

Hesitating, searching for the right words to say, he just looked at his younger friend for some moments. 

"You really hurt Misty with this, you know?" he said, trying not to sound too accusing. 

"Who cares…" Ash replied dryly, and turned around, now facing the wall, hiding his face.

"I do, Ash. And I think you should do, too. Actually I think you do, but don't want to admit it."

"If that's what you think. I guess I cannot persuade you of the opposite." 

Inside, Brock boiled with anger. Ash could be stubborn sometimes, and then he didn't care if he hurt anybody, and mostly this anybody was Misty.

Brock made his hands fists and struggled hard not to go berserk. 

"Gosh, Ash! How can you dare say such a thing? Do you have any idea what you're doing to Misty? Can you understand what she is going through right now? Do you think it's been easy for her to make this decision?"

Ash was stunned for a moment.

Could Brock be right? Maybe he had hurt her…

No.

Brock just wanted to give him a bad conscience.

He didn't know how much Misty had hurt him.

She acted to self-centered. Had she at least thought about anybody else, at least any second?

No, he bet not. She was just doing what she wanted.

Without any second thoughts.

She surely hadn't thought about other's feelings.

About _his _feelings…

Brock stood up from the bed. He knew he couldn't talk to Ash when he was in a state like this without being totally ignored.Ash was stubborn and totally irrational now, Brock had already experienced this many times. All he could do now was try to make the best of it.

"Ash, but please, just try not to argue with Misty today, or ignore her. And please don't be that rude, ok?" Brock tried.

Ash shrugged.

"If that's what you want." He simply replied.

Brock sighed. He wasn't really content with this "consensus", but he knew that it was even more than he had expected from Ash.

He only hoped Ash would do what he should.

Misty leant her head back against the tree and closed her eyes. 

This is so weird, she thought. It's much too complicated. 

How could I ever be happy without hurting anybody else?

This time, I hurt Ash, didn't I?

But if he is hurt just because I move, doesn't that mean he cares for me? Maybe he doesn't really hate me…

Misty shoved that thought away.

If he only knew what I feel… I would really like to stay, but I also know that this is a great opportunity for me, and I have to take it.

Misty sighed, opened her eyes and looked up at the clear blue sky. 

This was just the opposite if her own mind. Inside of her, it was a dark, sad tone of gray with no ray of sunlight to shine through the thick clouds. 

Life had become complicated, especially lately. Everything had changed: her habits, her temper, even her relationship to Ash, well, more exactly, her feelings for him.

They had become stronger.

She thought it was mainly because all of them got older and, as everybody knows, feelings change when one grows up. Often, she wished she could turn back time and change things, but then, when she thought about it again, she suddenly realized that somehow everything was good the way it was. On the whole, it had giver her a happy, content life full of new friends and lots of adventures she wouldn't miss for anything in the world.

Should this really have an end now?

All her travels with Ash, Brock and their Pokémon?

But she would soon begin a completely new life, full of interesting work with Pokémon, training, research, new friends, new places…

All this didn't mean she wouldn't be able to stay in contact with her present friends. Though she didn't think she would be able to meet them. But they could talk on the vid-phone and write tons of letters!

And after five years, if her graduate degrees were good enough, she would be acknowledged member of the Pokémon Research and Trainer Elite, with a status like the Top Four. She would have reached anything she ever wanted.

All she had to do now was persuade Ash that what she did was not that bad at all, and that she did not do it to hurt him, but simply for her own good and future.

She had to do that. Not just for him, but also for her own good conscience. 

Suddenly, she heard steps from behind her.

She turned around and looked at the person.

Talk of the devil, and there he comes.

As Ash spotted her, his face hardened even more. He stroke Pikachu's head, seemingly wanting to ignore her.

"Misty", he simply said and nodded.

"Ash!" Misty half shouted and lifted Togepi from the ground to take it in her arms.

Ash stopped and looked at her.

"What?" he asked, his voice just the same emotionless tone as before.

Misty hesitated, looking down at the ground to plug up the courage she desperately needed right now.

"I just want to tell you that I'm sorry. I didn't want to hurt you or something."

An apology, Ash thought. Just what I expected. She just wants to do this for her own good. I bet she doesn't really mean what she says.

"Yeah, whatever", he said.

The small yellow Pokémon on his hat seemed confused. It moved his long cute ears and blinked with it's puppy eyes.

"Pika Pi? Pika Pikachu Piii?" (What's up? Why are you two behaving so strange lately?)

Even Togepi blinked, not understanding why her mommy was so sad, and why daddy was talking so strange.

"I gotta go now. I wanna train my Pokémon." Ash said and turned back around. While Pikachu turned to take a look at Misty, who seemed deeply hurt by Ash's ignorance, his trainer headed off in director for the beach without even glancing back to see Misty cry. 

Mrs. Ketchum held back the curtain of the window to watch the scene. She dearly wished that Ash would forgive Misty, and that he would understand her reasons. But as it seemed, he behaved like the thickhead he always was and just ignored her apology. She really needed to talk to him when he got back from his Pokémon training at the beach (although she knew this was only a lame excuse for not having to be around Misty).

From the first time she had seen Ash and Misty together, she was convinced that, one day, the two of them would confess their feelings and become a couple. 

A dreamy look appeared on her face. 

Maybe they will marry and have kids and move in this house and…

Mrs. Ketchum smiled and shook her head.

She knew very well that Ash couldn't stick to his present kind of behavior, sooner or later he would forgive Misty. He just couldn't be mad at her really.

As long as she was his mother – which meant forever – it would not be later, but sooner, very soon.

Misty sunk back against the tree and hid her face in her hands, crying silently.

What had she done? Had she hurt him that much, so that he couldn't forgiver her? Would he ever be able to forgive her? 

She really didn't want him to be mad at her for the rest of her life! But she just didn't know what she could do without making him upset even more.

And again she came to that question: Why did life have to be so complicated? Why couldn't it be easy?

After about half an hour of walking – and some running in between – through the forest, he reached the beach.

It was a wonderful sight in the bright daylight. The clear blue sky invited people to pay a visit to this beautiful place and lots of people did come.

Ash found himself in a small, empty lagoon he had often played in as a toddler. He put out his Pokéballs and, one by one, released his Pokémon to let them enjoy the warm water and fresh air.

All his Pokémon had very soon found something to do. They either played with other wild Pokémon or jumped into the water to go for a swim.

Only Pikachu stayed at Ash's side. It wouldn't leave its trainer.

Never.

And especially not when he was in this kind of mood.

Ash had sat down in the sand and just stared out on the great wide open of the ocean.

He sighed and petted Pikachu's head.

"Pika Pi." Said the small Pokémon and placed a paw on Ash's knee to comfort him.

"Oh Pikachu. Why does this all have to be so complicated? Why does she want to go? Have I done something wrong? It must be like that, cuz if I hadn't, she'd never be that cruel to me. How can she do something like that?"

Ash hung his head low and a few silent tears ran down his cheeks. 

"I wish I could apologize to her, I really do, but every time I try to, those thoughts come to my mind. And then I'm mean to her again. I don't want to hurt her. I know I hurt her, too often actually. But I don't wanna! How can I be so stupid to do the same idiotic mistake all over again? What's wrong with me? Why can't I just forgive her?"

Tears were flowing steadily now, falling down onto the warm white sand to leave small, wet salty spots.

"Pika Pi Pikachu." 

Humans are really complicated, Pikachu thought. It's not life that's complicated. But I think they'll never realize…

The sun set slowly, the beautiful tone of red driven banished from the sky to let the moon start its reign. It was now about 9:30 pm and still there was no sign of Ash. Sure, it was not unusual for him to stay out late, but tonight, Misty had a really bad feeling. The only thing she could do no was wait for him and meet him when he'd return. But that would only upset him more, Misty realized. 

She sighed and got up from the bench. She tool Togepi into her arms and smiled. The small Pokémon was already sleeping, it wasn't used to stay up this late. 

Misty gave her a small kiss on the forehead and slowly started walking back to the house.

Please, she thought. Please let him feel better now. Please let him not be mad at me anymore. Please let him forgive me.

At about 10:30 pm, Ash finally arrived at home and silently entered the house. As he was about to go into their sleeping room, he saw his mother coming towards him from the kitchen. 

"You're late, Ash", she said, deep concern showing in her eyes.

Ash lowered his head and put his hands in his pockets.

"I know, mom. I'm sorry, but I just needed some time off."

Mrs. Ketchum smiled and nodded. 

"I know, Ash. But please, just try to be a bit more understanding in front of Misty."

Ash nodded and smiled softly.

"I'll try, mom. I promise."

With these words, he turned around and walked into their bedroom. He quickly changed and slid under the covers of his bed with Pikachu lying right next to him on the pillow. 

Misty and Brock seemed to be asleep already, as well as their Pokémon. 

But Ash didn't have that pleasure. He lay in his bed and simply stared at the ceiling, senseless bits and pieces of memory flying though his head.

Then, suddenly, he heard a sound from the direction of Misty's bed. Curiously, he turned his head to the side, trying to make no noise, to get a glance at Misty.

She was crying, he suddenly realized.

Ash was stunned. At that very instance, he got a really bad conscience. She surely was crying because of him, he knew that.

Ash wanted to get out of bed and walk over to her, comfort her, apologize to her. He'd do anything if she just stopped crying. He couldn't stand seeing her cry. 

It hurt him.

It hurt him deep in his heart.

He would change the whole world if that made her stop crying.

In a sudden, crashing wave, realization swept over him. 

What had he done? He would have loved to curse over himself, but he bit his tongue.

I got to apologize to her tomorrow morning, that's for sure, he thought. I hope she'll forgive me.

Please, God…

Chapter 3: Departure

The next day, Ash was the first one who woke. He looked down on his chest to see Pikachu snoring soundly. Misty and Brock were still asleep. So Ash quietly got up, trying not to wake anybody else. He changed into his regular jeans and black t-shirt, and went outside, alone.

The sun had just risen to banish the moon from his nightly reign and began to fill the sky with the most incredible shades of red Ash had ever seen.

But still, even this mighty view could not satisfy him. Ash felt uneasy, and, strongest of all, guilty.

He cursed himself for the things he had done to Misty the day before.

How come he could be so dense sometimes?

He had to smile at this thought. Usually, it was Misty who called him dense, and this was always followed by a long and senseless argument. And mostly none of them really won, because they were always interrupted by Brock, who must be sick of all the arguing by now. 

But still he seemed to tolerate it as Ash and Misty tolerated his drooling over beautiful girls – or actually _all _girls.

Ash sighed and sat down in the slightly wet grass.

How am I ever gonna apologize for my darn stupid behavior, he thought. 

Sure, it is easy to say "I'm sorry", but what if she doesn't accept that? Yes, I could tell her about my feelings, but I'm not quite sure if that would really improve the situation. Maybe it would just make everything worse. Maybe she would reject me…

With another deep sigh, Ash sat down on the grass and stared at the sky. 

Wonderful, warm rays of orange light invaded the sky and drove away the clouds that had predominated before. 

That simple natural beauty seemed to literally stab his heart.

He had to think of the way the ancient Egyptians had explained the sunrise: Apophis, a god, serpent-shaped demon, who reigned the sky at night, was attacked by Ra, the sun god, and the demons blood spread over the sky to color it in all shades of red. 

_Simple, maybe even naïve, but fascinating,_ he thought. 

But none of those thoughts could really drive Misty out of his mind. She was still there. Always in the center of his attention.

He couldn't even imagine it another way. It had always been like that since she had fished him out of the water on the first day of his Pokémon journey and had shown such deep care for Pikachu – though he at first thought she was asking if "he" was ok. 

As time had passed, she had become a truly good friend, and most loyal. Although they were almost always arguing, none of these fights had been real, not from his point of view. He had just been arguing about senseless stuff, things he didn't really care about. Just to prevent she noticed his interest towards her. 

But nevertheless, he regarded her as his best friend – beside Pikachu, for sure – and wouldn't want to miss their friendship for anything in the world. 

He had to say sorry, as soon as he could talk to her in private. He had to explain his reaction to her, though he couldn't really explain it to himself either. 

I just can't risk our friendship. No matter how humiliating it might turn out to say sorry, I simply have to. Even though she won't be around me anymore, I wanna stay her friend. And then, for sure, we will meet again. 

_Someday…_

_ _

Misty woke up from an uneasy sleep. Nightmares had troubled her that night, nightmares for being left alone, of being hated and abandoned.

She wiped the sweat from her forehead and slowly sat up in bed. 

After a short glance at her clock, which showed 6:30am, she slowly sunk back at her pillow. Togepi still slept soundly at Misty's side, but the girl wasn't able to fall asleep again. On the one hand she had had enough sleep, more than she sometimes got when they were traveling around, and on the other hand she was afraid that, if she fell asleep again, the dreams might return. And this thought was definitely no pleasing one. 

With a sigh she got up and noticed that Ash was not in his bed anymore.

Misty frowned. It surely wasn't normal for Ash to stand up that early. He could sleep through the eruption of a volcano and would be very pleased about the extra warmth he'd get w/ the lava. 

Millions of thoughts rushed through Misty's mind, and she finally decided to go look for him, no matter if he was still mad at her or not. 


	2. Chapter 2

More than just childhood friends

Brock stirred. Some rustling noise from the bed below his had woken him.

He carefully opened one eye (a/n: I know he never does, but it just serves as a dramatic device) and peered around the room, his view still blurry. 

_Ash? _He thought. _Wow, he gets up early today._

Still half sleeping, he shrugged and lay back down on his bed. _Well, let him do what he wants._

Brock obviously was still out of it, his brain hadn't started working yet.

A few minutes after Ash had got up and left the room, the older boy heard another sound. He sighed in his mind and – as if still asleep – turned around to see Misty putting Togepi down on her bed and getting out of it herself.

Misty? What's up with everybody today?? Did I put something wrong in their dinner? 

A frightened look appeared on his face.

Is there an appointment today I forgot about???

Then, he finally remember the events of the past days and with a click in his brain I'm sure you could have heard, a broad grin came to his face.

Taking a last look at Misty, he lay back down and grinned at the ceiling.

_So, _he thought. _Seems like somebody has a bad conscience, huh? Not that I hadn't known before, but would any of you two listen to me? Ever?_

_Well, I bet they're gonna work it out now. They just can't be mad at each other. _

_Sure, they can fight and argue a lot, but, come on, who ever believes what they say? _

_They have strong feelings for each other, since the day they first met, they just don't admit it, or maybe they don't know themselves. _

_But it's just sooooo obvious…_

_What was this old saying about fighting a lot and love each other again? _He thought and, grinning like he had mastered to over the past few years, he fell back into a deep sleep, full of Nurse Joys and Officer Rockys – and any other beautiful girls you could imagine (a/n: sorry, just too tempting:)

Ash still sat in the grass staring at the cloudy morning sky, his mind somewhere else. The cool midsummer's breeze ran through his hair, driving strands of black into his eyes.

Unaware of his motions, Ash pushed the strand out of his face and resumed his otherwise motionless and expressionless position.

But then, his eyebrow shot up.

_Footsteps,_ he thought. _But who will be up this early?_

He stopped himself from turning around and looking the person into the face, and just waited. 

A few seconds later, a slender figure gently sat beside him on the ground, hugging it's knees, staring at the sky as was Ash.

_Misty, _he thought, and his heart missed a beat. 

There was a long silence between the two teenagers, so silent that Ash was afraid Misty would notice him heavy breathing.

As he was just about to open his mouth and finally talk to Misty, she turned around to face him, not wanting to bear that heavy weight on her shoulders anymore.

"Ash, I'm sorry!" she spat out so fast that he wasn't really sure afterwards she had really said it.

Ash just looked at her in confusion, thoughts build and fell in his mind like pictures in a kaleidoscope. 

But then, it all stopped, as he saw something.

A tear.

Misty was crying again, and once more it was his fault.

The red haired girl misinterpreted Ash's silence and slowly got up, turned around and started to walk away from her confused friend. 

Though Ash was aware that it was his fault she just left crying, anger started to break through again.

_Not, not this time,_ he thought._ No more, I won't hurt her ever again._

As if been held back by an invisible force, Ash pulled himself to get up and follow Misty. 

She sped up, running now.

Ash finally caught up with her and stood in her way, not letting her go on. 

Misty turned away from Ash, trying to hide the tears that were streaming down her face like rivers freed by sunshine after a long, cold winter.

Ash realized he held his arms out at his sides and let them sink down, hanging his head low.

"Misty…I…", he started, not knowing how to voice his thoughts without making her want to flee again. 

She turned around to him, looking into his deep brown eyes.

Ash forced a comforting and apologizing smile.

"You're not the one who has to be sorry, Misty. I know it is unusual for me to say sorry, cuz I normally don't admit I ever make mistakes at all, but this time I made a really big mistake…"

Now it was Misty's turn to be confused. She looked at Ash like she was about to test if that was really him or some alien that had taken his form.

Ash had to smile at that look, it was one he didn't see very often, but loved about her.

"No, your ears don't fail, and yes, it's still me, Ash, in here. And I really meant what I said. I made the biggest and densest (he smiled at that one, as did Misty) mistake ever. I shouldn't have been that stupid. It is your choice whether you stay with us or not. And, to be honest, you got a great, and maybe even unique offer I myself would have taken without any second thoughts. I was just freaking out because I was afraid that I… umm… that I would… lose you…"

With each of Ash's words, Misty's face lit up, and the tears in her eyes could easily be recognized as tears of joy now. 

A heavy weight was lifted from Ash's heart as he saw that Misty was happy. He had been so afraid to tell her, but now, it all seemed so easy, like things had done themselves.

The two teenagers stared at each other for an instance, the warm summer breeze blowing past them.

"Ash, I…", she started, but never finished, as Ash lay his index finger onto her lips and took the slender girl in his arms.

Misty was stunned. Though she hadn't expected Ash to do a thing like that, it felt incredibly comfortable, and familiar.

She rested her head against his shoulder, as did Ash against her shoulder.

They felt far too comfortable to break up their embrace and stood there for endless minutes, receiving feelings they had never felt before, so strong, so warm, so pleasing, so… perfect.

"I knew it!" a voice suddenly sounded from the direction of the Ketchum's home and broke the silence.

"So you two finally noticed, huh? Just go on, I'm gonna be quite and won't disturb you. Awwww… young love…"

Brock.

Ash and Misty jumped away from each other like nothing had happened, blushing furiously.

"YOUNG LOVE???" they yelled at once, like two bodies, one voice.

Brock got up and slowly retreated to the house.

"So you are in denial again? Ok ok, I won't disturb you."

"BROOOCK!" Ash screamed, now even redder than before. "You gonna pay for that comment!"

Before Misty could even try to hold him back, Ash dashed towards his home, like a heat seeking missile, aiming for Brock.

Misty giggled softly. 

_Some things never change_, she thought. __

_Though he kinda surprised me today…_

As she thought of their loving embrace just a few minutes ago, she blushed again, still smiling. 

He was afraid he'd lose me… So he DOES care about me…

Misty smiled and followed the two boys, one sentence ringing in her ears, causing her to feel like walking on clouds.

_I was afraid I would lose you…_

a/n: is this the way you'd expected Ash to say he's sorry? I didn't want them to confess their love already, but I wanted to change something in their relationship, and I think this hug changed a lot, improved a lot ;) But don't be afraid, this is not the end. Remember what the story was about before Ash's and Misty's feelings went criss cross? Yup, Misty's till going, but that doesn't mean there'll be no more romance in this story. It'll be full of it! Especially in the following chapters! Which I hope to be able to add soon. I hope you review and tell me how you like this. Pwwweeeeaaaaaaseeeeee *makes puppy dog eyes*** **

By the way, do you think I got the characters right? I'd really appreciate all sorts of advice.

And another note for those who also read my FF7 fanfics: I'll update soon, this weekend I suppose. Sorry it took me so long, but I was kinda occupied, and very busy with school *sigh*


	3. 

As Ash and Misty were now back to their regular teasing, fighting, being shocked by Pikachu-cycle, days went by pretty fast. And finally, that day had come, the day the two teenagers feared most…

The day of departure. 

After about eight hours of packing up Misty's things, which Ash had had his own comments to, Ash, Misty, Brock and Mrs. Ketchum were finally standing at Pallet's port.

Misty's suitcases had already been brought on board of the ferry that would take her past the Seafoam Island, yet the little red haired teen had her own business to get done.

As Ash's mom hugged Misty, tears spread from the adults eyes once again, like so often since Misty had told her about her plans. 

Mrs. Ketchum took out another handkerchief and wiped away her tears. A senseless effort, for Ash she took a glance at Misty, rivers of tears started to flow down her cheeks again, as persistent as a little baby's cries. 

"Remember what you promised, Misty dear: you have to write at least once a week", Ash's mom said, and added playfully, with a warm smile on her face, "or I will get very angry with you."

Misty nodded approvingly, trying hard to contain the tears that swelled up in her eyes as well.

Why did farewells have to be so watery all the time??

Next to Misty, Togepi was standing on the ground next to Pikachu, hugging her buddy as if dear life depended on it. And, like so often, she cried. 

It made Misty chuckle to watch Pikachu's hopeless effort to calm Togepi down and hide his own tears as well.

Then the girl turned over to Brock. 

He seemed to be in a good shape, rational and wise like always…, well, at least like when no beautiful girls were around.

Misty smiled at him and the wave of memories he brought with him and gave him a little, friendly hug. 

"Take care of yourself, ok?" he said, caring, like the older brother she'd never had. 

Again Misty nodded.

"Sure I will, Brock. I promise. Though I will miss your good food." Misty said with a smirk.

Brock grinned.

"Yeah! I'm the best cook and houseman of all!" he responded in his figurehead pose, one of those pink aprons that had appeared out of nowhere covering this front.

For one instance, Misty was sure she had seen a tear glistening in the tall boy's eyes, but when she blinked, it was over again.

Just a feeling, maybe.

Pikachu and Togepi seemingly had finished their saying goodbye, as the small egg Pokémon toddled over to Misty's bag pack. 

"Piiiiiiiikkkkaaaa!" the small yellow Pokémon cried, jumping into her arms.

Misty smiled and hugged to small electric Pokémon tightly. 

"Sure I won't forget you, Pikapal. 

Pikachu rub his cheeks in Misty's chest and cried.

Misty tired to soothe the Pokémon and gently placed a hand on his small head.

"I will miss you, too, Pikachu. Just take good care of Ash while I'm away, ok?"

Pikachu look up at the red haired girl, tears in his eyes, nodding furiously, but already showing a small grin on his face. 

With this, the Pokémon jumped from her arms again and onto Ash's shoulder.

Ash…

Now it was his turn…

Misty turned around to him in a swing and, as she took a quick glance at him, reddened at least 4 shades and began to rub her knuckles nervously.

Ash seemed at least as nervous as Misty, as he constantly stared at the ground before him, which seems to reflect a red light upon the dark haired boy's face.

"Ash…", Misty started hesitantly, not knowing what to say in this very moment.

Ash look up at her and though sadness was written all over his face, he forced a winning smile to show her not to worry about him, at least not in the first place. 

Misty was grateful for this attempt, and thought of it to be cute, as she searched for the words to say.

Why hold a speech of thousands of words if you can express all your feelings in just a short sentence?

She smiled and looked up into his hazelnut colored eyes.

"I'll miss you, you know", she said, blushing slightly.

Ash's smile grew wide.

"I'll miss you, too."

He plugged up the courage and leaned forward to give her a long hug.

It was almost like the one they had shared just a few days before, but this time, it was a lot more emotional. 

Maybe it was because both of them knew they probably wouldn't see each other for a long time, that it was farewell this time.

Misty pressed her head on his shoulder to hide the tears flowing from her eyes again. 

Finally, they broke apart and look at each other for what seemed like a lifetime. 

Sadness was the predominating expression in both pairs of eyes.

Then, Misty blinked to banish the salty tears from her eyes and went back a step, waving at the others for goodbye. 

"I'll miss you all! Please take care of yourselves until I'm back. And Brock", she turned over to the older boy "have an eye on Ash. Make sure he doesn't do any dense things!" she added with a wink.

Ash already opened his mouth to reply with a smart comment, to start another of their seemingly senseless fights, as he heard the ship's horns blow to signal the passengers to come onboard.

Misty waved once more and then turned around and walk towards the ferry.

Yet after a few steps, she suddenly stopped, turned around once more and slowly walked towards Ash.

"Sorry", she told him. "I forgot to give you this."

With these words, she placed a gentle kiss on his left cheek, spun around and ran onto the ferry leaving behind a startled Ash.

He put his hand up to his cheek and touched the spot she had kissed him, the spot that felt so warm, like ants were running around under the skin.

The spot Ash wouldn't wash from now on.

_Ok ok, _he thought about it a second time,_ maybe I will……_

_One day_, he grinned.

The sound of the ferry's horn pulled him out of his daydreams just in time to notice Brock grinning at him.

But today Ash wouldn't care about him.

His only motion was to turn back to the ship and make out Misty standing on deck, still waving the trio.

_Things will change from now on_, he thought to himself.

Little Pikachu on his shoulder nodded approvingly, as if able to read his best friend's thoughts.

"Pika pika piiiiii!" He said with a sigh, glancing sadly at the departing ship.__

_Yes, _Ash thought as he petted his Pokémon's head, 

_I already miss her, too. _

A/n: And first again: NO, THIS IS NOT THE END! Just to make it clear, cuz it might be easily mistaken for one. There's still lots of chapters to come. I'm really really sorry it took me so long posting this new chapter, but again, I was sorta busy with school, but this will change within the next weeks, I hope. Hope you all like this chapter, cuz it was kinda hard for me to write the farewell-scene. All I knew about it was that it should be sorta teary and that Ash and Misty should make a new step in their relationship (meaning the small kiss on the cheek). 

PS: Just one note to kyp, who wrote about not knowing Officer Rocky. Well, actually it is the german name for Officer Jenny. I have no clue why they changed the name, but, well, who ever understands those guys…

So, if anybody has any critics and could tell me things to improve my writing or wants to give suggestions how to go on the story, or how to change my charas in order to make them fit the series, please tell me. Critic of every type is more than welcome!


	4. Separation

Chapter 4: Enduring separation

Chapter 4: Enduring separation

Misty dropped her suitcases on the ground and exhaustedly fell back onto the bed in her new room.

The building was really impressing, and most of all, huge!

In the moment she had walked over the threshold, she instantly wished she had stayed back "home" with Ash, Brock and their Pokémon.

_Well, mainly with Ash_, she admitted to herself with a slight smile showing on her lips.

But there had been no way back then, as there wasn't one now.

Yet, things weren't as bad as they might seem.

Almost immediately after Misty had entered the university – which didn't just contain various pools and classrooms for theoretical lessons, but as well the student's rooms – people had approached her in a most friendly way, starting conversations about where she came from and which Pokémon were her favorites. 

Those new acquaintances had also helped her with the formalities, so that Misty herself only had to sigh in, get her timetable and follow the nice boy who had offered to carry her things to her roomJ

With a sigh, the girl turned around to face the egg-Pokémon snoring soundly in her bag pack. 

At least they had given her a single room, so that she could get some time for herself when she needed it. Enough time to take care of her Pokémon – especially baby Togepi - , to resume writing in the diary Ash, Brock and the others had given her shortly before her departure, the day before, and, above all, to think.

She would need lots of time to think, and mainly about that one guy who drove her crazy, the wanna-be-Pokémon-Master that could be so dense sometimes, so stubborn and childish, yet so caring, loving, loyal, cheering, funny and, last but not least, cute.

That one guy who had been playing ping-pong with her heart over the past few years; who had made her blush furiously every time she looked at him.

That one guy she had given her first kiss.

Ash Ketchum.

Misty sighed once more. She had just left him the day before, and, there she was, thinking about him and missing him like she hadn't seen him for years. 

Which she wouldn't from now on…

_After all, he is just a friend, isn't he?_, she tried to convince herself, took Togepi into her arms and stared out of the window onto the large blue masses of water encircling her.

Thus she sat for several minutes, the only motion being a single salty drop emerging from her eye.

"Hey Ash! You wanna go with me into town to fetch some stuff?" Brock tried cheeringly.

"Again no, Brock! I really wanna be alone for a while." Ash replied, getting somewhat annoyed by Brock's constant tries to cheer him up and always being around him. It would be very hard to endure years just with Brock, without anybody to keep him from things like drooling over girls. 

"Ok ok, I got it", the older boy answered. "Our little 'Ashy-boy' is missing his girlfriend." He said with a huge grin on the face, intending to tease Ash to give him some sort of familiarity. 

Ash glared at the dark haired boy, but did not reply anything. He just stood up, letting Pikachu jump on his shoulder and walked out of the kitchen, in the direction of his favorite spot near the small forest lake of Pallet, leaving Brock feeling sort of guilty.

None of the two buddies – Ash and Pikachu for sure – said a word until they had reached that secret spot of Ash's. The young Pokémon trainer dropped himself onto the ground under his favorite oak and stared at the lake. This had been his most adored location since he was still a little boy. The purity of the lake's water had always fascinated him, though he normally didn't think this element bore a special beauty. 

Yet in this moment, there was something special about it.

Every time he gazed at a lake or river, it reminded him of Misty and her love for it.

It was like someone wanted to pour salt into his wounds.

Wasn't separation alone bad enough? 

Was there somebody up there in the heavens that took great amazement in hurting and torturing him?

A few years ago, when Ash had started their journey and met up with Misty, when she had started to argue with him, there had been times the boy wished she would just leave him alone to never bother him again.

But now, he wondered how he could have ever thought about something like that. Sure, they had had their share of fights over the years, and surely not just a few, but it had soon been his – and even her – cycle. He had become used to it and developed a liking for teasing her, just to see how she would react when she screwed up.

But back then, he hadn't been able to imagine it could be that hard to lose her in an instance, how much it would influence his life, his feelings… everything!

"Pika ka kachu." The small Pokémon said comfortingly and put a hand on its best friend's shoulder. 

Ash glanced down at his favorite buddy and found some new strength in the deep dark pair of eyes that were on him.

"Yeah, Pikachu. I know I have to cheer up, but it's harder than I ever imagined. It's just that… that I miss her so much, Pikachu. I know I've never been very sentimental, but…", he sighed and looked onto the ground. 

"This is all so different from anything I ever thought of."

He sighed once more and petted Pikachu's head. 

"I'm sorry if I pull you down, I really didn't mean to depress you in any way. It's enough that I'm under depression."

Pikachu shook his head furiously, indicating that his master hadn't done anything wrong.

"Ka Pika Pi chuu." 

Ash smiled and set Pikachu in his lap, hugging him. 

"Thanks, buddy."

And with a sigh, he looked up at the clear blue sky, watching birds pass by.

How am I ever gonna get through all this?

Dear Ash,

I'm sorry I didn't write sooner, but I had some stuff to do, like meeting the profs or attending my welcome-party.

Yup, you did read right. They held a welcome party for me! It was so great!

At first, I felt so lost because I didn't know anybody around, just some people whom I had talked to before. But soon, I got to talk to them. It's amazing how much those people know about water Pokémon! That's been the topic for, let's say, 2 thirds of the evening. The rest was spend eating and dancing. 

I hadn't expected to find friends here that soon, but everybody's so nice and helpful that I had far less problems than I'd ever imagined. 

As there were no lessons yesterday, I went to the beach with Kathy, Alec and Hitomi, who are my best friends for now, as we all have the same timetable and do lots of stuff together. 

The weather over here is so wonderful, it's even hotter than in Pallet! And there's gigantic masses of water! Before lesson starts I can take a swim in the sea and watch many water Pokémon.

*sigh* 

Nevertheless, I still miss everybody. I wish you all could be here with me and enjoy the time. 

But enough about me.

How are you doing? Could you hold back Brock trying to drool over girls? Did Pikachu thundershock you again this morning to wake you up?

Please tell everybody that I'm fine, especially your mom. 

Is she still crying?? I hope she has stopped by now, cuz it would drive you crazy, I'm sure.

And give Pikachu a big hug for me.

Besides, Togepi here next to me wants me to tell you to say hi to Pikachu. Seems like she misses her Pikapal, cuz there's not many Pokémon she plays with here.

But I gotta stop now, cuz it's already late and I don't wanna sleep through my first school day.

So bye for now,

Misty

P.S.: And don't you dare to do any dense things without me being there to criticize you, will you? J

a/n: so what do you think of this chapter? I know, I know, it took me very long to post it, but I just didn't know how to start. I'm kind of satisfied with the narrative part, but not with the letter. Well, maybe I'll improve writing letters during this chapter, cuz I'll have to do lots of letters from Ash to Misty and vice versa. And I promise I'll try to write more next time (I'm really getting sick of posting just 2 or 3 pages each time). 

Btw, did anybody notice that one of Misty's new friends is a boy? Well, I bet u already know I kinda intend to "get him into the game". But nevertheless, it'll stay a AAMR.

Anywayz, thanx for reading this. I'd love to thank everybody in person, but I don't think that's possibleJ


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5 (?)

Dear Misty,

I'm really glad to hear that you're doing fine. I guess I could say the same about me. Although it has become very quiet here, and Pikachu seems to miss you and Togepi a lot. He wanted me to include one of his finger-paint pictures he made just for you. You will find it in the same envelope as the letter. I hope he never gets such a crazy idea again!

You wouldn't believe what a mess he created in the kitchen! 

It was … it's really hard to find words expressing half the destruction I've seen!

It looked like he had tried about 8 different motives: 4 actually on his paper sheets, the other 4 ones on the tiled floor!

Even Mr. Mime was stunned when he saw that chaos, not to mention Mom.

Well, actually she just stood there smiling like always, patting Pikachu on the head to congratulate him for his great artwork!

Sometimes I think I'll never understand her…

Well, after 5 hours of reeaaallllyyyy hard work, I finally finished cleaning, just to see Pikachu waddling in with dirty feet!

I don't know what has gotten into him, but I think it's just his way of coping with your absence. At least I hope so…

Well, and for the others, holiday season just started and people are rushing in to sunbath and enjoy a swim in the sea. I think you can guess what that means for Brock:

He has gone into his regular I'm-a-lovesick-teenager-who-drools-over-everything-that-is-female-and-walking-on-two-legs mode.I'd be your mallets high time! (I think of buying one myself, cuz it can get really annoy when he starts drooling and flowing in the air every two seconds… that means if he at all comes down except for at nighttime).

By the way, I've resumed my Pokémon training. Though I'm still around Pallet, as there are a lot more Pokémon around here than I thought. 

Prof. Oak gave me some pieces of advice and I even captured some new Pokémon on the way!

My favorite is the baby Eevee I captured yesterday. Well, I didn't really capture it. One of the travelers had an Eevee couple with him, and while he was crossing the forest near Pallet, the female Eevee went into labor. 

I helped the traveler to get her to the next Pokémon center, where she gave birth to four incredibly cute (I never thought I'd ever say something like this…) baby Eevees. And guess what: to thank me for my help, he gave me one of the babies as soon as he left town and the baby was old enough to be taken away from it's mother.

Little Eevee seems to like everybody a lot, and especially Pikachu seems to develop a certain liking for it. I think he's glad to have a baby around againJ

I think I could write like this for hours, I gotta stop now, cuz Mom wants to go shopping and I promised to accompany her (why did I ever agree on that??J)

Bye,

Ash

P.S.: Pikachu says I gotta say hi back to you for your saying hi in the last letter (wow, that's lots of his). 

P.P.S.: You're lucky, I was just about to do some dense things when your letter arrivedJ No, really, I'll try to behave. (Though I don't say I'll succeed in thatJ)

Misty stood at the edge of the large pool, watching Staryu trying to get to know the Starmie of another trainer. 

The teenage girl, smiling at her Pokémon's efforts, sat down at the edge and let her feet dangle in the cool refreshing water. 

Letting her gaze wander over the water's trouble surface spotting several Pokémon belonging to her fellow students, she let her mind drift away on the soft currents of the transparent liquid. 

Like so often over the past few days, she had to think of Ash. Somehow, she wasn't able to banish him from her mind, though it would help her a lot to improve her ability to concentrate on her work. 

Sure, training her Pokémon and conversing with other trainers temporally distracted her, but something always brought the memory back. Something in her subconscious seemed to be wanting to rise to the surface, demanding for attention. 

After all, her feelings for Ash were far too strong to simply be suppressed. And seemingly, the great distance between her and the one who was driving her crazy hadn't done anything but strengthen those feelings, tightening the emotional bonds she would have wanted to loosen. 

They had just made so much precious experience together, had spent their everyday life together, that it had become hard to even imagine a life without the other. Yet now they had bare it. 

Smiling, she thought of Ash's last letter and the cute painting Pikachu had enclosed for her. When she had looked at it for the first time, she hadn't recognized much more than just a few lines, resembling an abstract piece of modern art. But after studying it for several minutes, she recognized patterns in it, and shortly after was able to see several simply drawn figures: two taller ones and a pile of small ones. 

The left of the tall ones had a black spot at the top, and a small red one in it, the right one had a red "head". Misty giggled as she noticed that those two figures should be standing for Ash and Misty, who were holding hands, surrounded by all their Pokémon (which were represented by the small piles of lines). 

In that moment, Misty had felt very homesick. Loneliness had crushed over her like a wave rushing onto the shore, accompanied by regret and doubt. 

With a sigh, she had pushed these feelings aside and hung the picture onto the wall. 

No every time when Misty felt lonely, she looked at the picture and instantly, her state improved, the nearly unrecognizable pile of lines and paw prints spending consolation.

_I have to remind myself to tell Ash to thank Pikachu for that one_, she wrote a mental note for herself. 

_Thanks Ash, and thanks Pikachu. Thank for all the love you two are giving me._

_ _

_ _

_ _

_ _

A/n: I'm sorry it again took me that long to post something, and that I didn't post more, but writing these lines (and the ones above), I was suffering from an annoying and thickheaded headache. Plus my comp broke down two times, yet luckily I had backup files of this. Somebody obviously wants me to stop writing this… but for now, I won't! This is a fanfic I really wanna be finished before summer break, or at least be finished at all! This should tell u it's not the end now, though I don't think there's any hint about that. And by the way, thanx everybody for their great reviews! They really keep me going! J ThankiesJ If you got any criticism – whether positive or negative doesn't matter – then please review and tell me. I'd be very grateful, really. So bye for now, hope to be able to post the next chapter soon.

P.S: For anybody who also read my FF7 or Breath of Fire 2 fanfics, please don't be mad at me! I'm just working on them to post the next chapter tomorrow or the day after, but I promise it won't take me that long this time. I apologize to everybody on this way if I let you wait.


	6. Chapter 6

Dear diary,

Dear diary,

5 months have passed since I've last seen Ash andmy other buddies. You can't imagine how much I miss them…

But nevertheless, I try to live my life the best way possible. And I myself think I'm doing fine at it. I've found so many new friends. If it hadn't been for Hitomi's consolation and cheers, I'd be bursting into tears every two minutes. 

Hitomi shares my love for water Pokémon, though she is most fond of my Psyduck, what I can't understand at all. But despite that, she's really seriousJ

Yesterday, we've been to the near village and did some shopping. Well, some is not really the right expression for our excursionJ

Tomorrow, we plan to go to the beach with Alec. He's some funny guy, really good looking, intelligent and most perfect. Though I would prefer if he had at least some small faults.

Maybe I try to compare him to Ash. No, not maybe, I really do. How much I wish he could be here…

I wonder if he has changed a lot? With each letter I he writes, he seems to have become more mature and serious about life. Maybe Brock's helping him, or maybe his Pokémon Journey just forces him to grow up.

But I bet Pikachu still hasn't evolved. I think he never will, and it's better that way. My Pika-pal has to stay the way he is, no evolution would be worth changing his character. 

I wonder how all the other Pokémon are doing, and I'm really looking forward to get to know Ash's little Eevee, though it could be some concurrence for Togepi.

By the way, Togepi hasn't changed much yet. It likes to get a lot of attention, which it mostly gets, cuz the other trainers like its looks… and find it most cute. But I don't think it will evolve soon, yet again I'd prefer my lil baby to stay the way it is. Not everything in life should change. Some things have to stay the way they are. 

And some things have to improve…

Misty sighed and put the pencil down, looking out of the window. Leaningher head onto her hands, she pondered again about him.

Him meaning Ash, the only boy always on her mind.

Unnoticing, she had started counting down the days, weeks, months and years until they would reunite.

Sure, they wrote tons of letters, at least one per week, and sometimes they also talked on the phone, but that could never be a surrogate for being near to him, sensing his presence as soon as he entered the room, this fluttery feeling as soon as he came into sight…

Unconsciously, Misty smiled at the thought of Ash and her entwined in that loving embrace they had shared shortly before her departure. 

With another sigh, Misty put her diary down under her pillow, glance over at her baby Pokémon to see if it was still asleep and walked over to the window.

Just in that second, she heard a knock at the door.

"Come in, please." Misty answered the unvoiced question.

Shortly thereafter, the door slowly opened and Hitomi walked in, her happily round face showing the same cheering smile as always.

Misty instantly beamed back, banishing the previous thoughts from her mind, not wanting her friend to notice she had been thinking about him again.

Hitomi kept her hands hidden behind her back, indicating she had something Misty was wanting bad.

"Guess what I've got for you?" Hitomi asked, dancing around in front of her.

Misty frowned, but suddenly was infected by curiosity. 

"I don't know, so what is it you've got?"

"Hey hey,you know curiosity killed the cat." Hitomi said, grinning. "You at least have to guess."

Misty frowned once more, wondering what it could be, but she already had a guess she assumed to be very close, or even accurate. Yet she did not know if she should voice her thoughts, because it would be like a confession to her friend.

"I have no idea", she lied to her friend who was still jumping up and down.

"Oh come on! Admit it! You clearly know, you just don't wanna confess!" Hitomi stated with a sly smirk on her face. 

Misty blushed profoundly.

"I don't at all know what you are talking about."

Hitomi sighed about the stubbornness of her friend.

"You can be really thickheaded sometimes. Ok then, here you go", she said and her hands revealed a small parcel.

Misty slowly took it and examined the addresses, a smile creeping onto her face.

"Yup, it's from your boyfriend, your Ashy-boy", Hitomi stated, grinning. "Seems like he still remembers your birthday."

"He's not my boyf…", Misty started. Those words came out all the time, it was like a reflex. 

Hitomi's grin grew wider and wider.

"Yeah, sure", she said sarcastically. "I better leave you alone now so you can see what he gave you."

Still grinning, she left the room, leaving Misty alone. 

The red-haired girl sat down on her bed and slowly opened the parcel, carefully unwrapping the brown paper.

"Toge prrrriiii?" the small egg Pokémon woke up and waddled over to its mother.

Misty smiled over at "her baby" and gently petted its head. 

Then she returned her attention to the half opened parcel and ended the opening process. 

Inside, she found a letter, and, to her most surprise, a Pokéball.

Though Misty felt the sudden and strong urge to release what was kept inside the spherical object, she first took the letter, unfolded it and started to read:

Dear Misty,

Happy happy birthday! J Yup, it's me, Ash. I bet you're surprised that I didn't forget about your birthday, huh? And I even got you a presentJ But don't you dare open it now. I'll tell you more about it later.

So, how are you doing? Did you get a big birthday party this time? I think your friends arranged something big for ya, huh? I just hope this letter reaches you on your birthday, and not just days later.

As soon as you return home, we gotta have a great birthday party for all the birthdays we can't spend together. And then we'll invite all our friends, maybe even some nice girls for BrockJ

But enough about the future (as interesting and tempting those thoughts may be), lets talk about the present.

How's "school" going? I'd swear your grades are fantastic. Though by now, you should have unnerved everybody to death with your endless talks about Tentacruel and how beautiful you think it is…

Sorry sorry, but I couldn't resist, it was just too tempting to tease you again, even if just in a letterJ

That reminds me of your birthday present. You should already have noticed that it has to be a Pokémon, if not, open the window and breath in some air to make your brain start working againJ

And as you love water Pokémon so much, it must have been your first guess.

At first, I wanted to evolve my Eevee into a Vaporeon and give it to you, but then I though about your love for this special Pokémon and went out with Pikachu to catch it.

After about 3 days we finally found what we wanted: we found the perfect Tentacruel! With Pikachu at my side, the fight was not that hard – he fought extra hard that time cuz he knew it was his birthday present for you, better than another finger-print-catastrophe in the kitchen I assumeJ. 

I'm gonna stop writing now, cuz I bet you wanna see your new Pokémon right now. 

So bye, and have a happy birthday,

Ash

P.S.: Actually, there's not really a p.s. this time, but I though I had to make up one, cuz I always had them in my last lettersJ Silly, huh? J

P.S.S.: I gotta correct myself, well, actually Pikachu corrected my reading over my shoulder. Pikachu says happy birthday, too, as do all the other Pokémon. Plus Pikachu says he'll give you another of his "artworks" as soon as you come home (oh gosh…)

Misty smiled. Each letter she received made her happy, but at the same time gave her homesick feelings. Once more she had to think about how much she missed her friends.

Sighing, she placed the letter in her lap and gazed over to the Pokéball, placing it in her palm.

Whipping it up and down, like testing it's weight, she got up and went downstairs to one of the large pools. 

As soon as she reached the pool's edge, she stretched out her right arm and released her new Pokémon.

Engulfed in a majestic red glow, a gigantic Tentacruel appeared in front of her, consuming a great part of space from the pool's bottom up to half the height of the ceiling, towering even one of the teacher's Gyaradoses. But despite it's frightening presence, the Tentacruel's eyes showed pure loyalty and trust.

Misty took off her t-shirt and slid into the lukewarm water. Nearing the water Pokémon, she was hovered into the air in front of the Pokémon eyes with one of it's mighty tentacles. 

Softly, carefully, Misty touched the huge Pokémon's "mouth" as if petting it. 

The Tentacruel let out some satisfied, pleasured noises and stroke the teenager with a tentacle.

Smiling, feeling most content, she hugged the Tentacruel, in her mind thanking Ash for the greatest present she ever got for birthday.

A/n: so much about posting the next chapter soonJ and again I'm most sorry that it took me that long to post a new chapter. But the next one is coming soon, as I've already started working on it, plus I have an own computer in my room now, so I can start writing every time inspiration comes haunting meJ But what do you think about this one? Actually, it turned out different than I planned, but that's not that bad. 

Next chapter's gonna be longer, I think. Though 3 pages is an appropriate length, I think.

By the way, I plan to post this fanfic again as soon as I finished it, just to have stick to this darn chaptering system. Nevertheless, pllllleeeeaaasssseee tell me what you think of this so far, especially about this chapter. Criticism of all kind (negative as well as positive) is welcome.


	7. Chapter 7

More than just childhood friends chapter 7?

"Gyarados, go!"

Red light engulfed the huge dragon like Pokémon as it emerged from its Pokéball and materialized in the warm air.

The Young trainer grinned at his opponent for giving him a chance like that.

That shouldn't be too hard, he thought.

"Pikachu, I chose you!"

The small yellow mouse Pokémon at his side nodded, sure to win, electricity sparkling from his round red cheeks, and ran onto the battleground.

"Gyarados, Hyperbeam!"

The dragon launched forward to execute one of its most powerful attacks, powerful enough to wipe out inexperienced trainers Pokémon. 

No, not with me, the young trainer thought.

He had too much experience with Pikachu in battle to lose now.

"Pikachu, Agility!"

The small Pokémon did as its trainer said and escaped Gyarados' critical attacks. 

Much too easy, the young trainer frowned. 

He must have some kind of special attack, otherwise he wouldn't have chosen this Pokémon in such a moment.

And there it was.

Just a small sign from trainer to Pokémon, unrecognizable for everyone who wasn't looking for it, but at the same time cue for the Pokémon to dash forwards at an incredible speed to capture Pikachu.

"Pikachu, Thunder!" 

The Pokémon obeyed, but it didn't have any chance. 

The young trainer stared unbelievingly at the Gyarados, his eyes widely open.

The Pokémon had erected its horn plates, reflecting Pikachu's thundershocks easily, grabbing the small Pokémon with his long, winding body almost serpent like.

Pikachu cried in pain as the other Pokémon tightened his grip in it.

Darn, _the young trainer thought_. This can't be the end. I haven't come this far to lose now! I have to prove to myself that I can do it! I have to prove it to her…

A wave of energy flooded through his whole body and suddenly his brain started to develop a solution.

Once again, the young trainer grinner.

This is it.

"Pikachu, direct a thundershock at Gyarados' nostrils!" 

Pikachu grinned back, obviously knowing his trainers' plan.

The nostrils were Gyarados' most sensitive spot, as soon as it was touched in any way, the Pokémon would start to spit out a beam of water.

And so it happened. Just as the fountain shot out of Gyarados' mouth, it loosened its grip on Pikachu so that the small Pokémon could escape and use its thunder attack on the fountain.

In the same moment as the electric Pokémon landed back on the ground, Gyarados let out a bone-shattering cry as it was hit by the high voltage, and soon after it fell to the ground with a thud.

Silence. 

Nobody spoke a word.

Even Pikachu stared unbelievingly at what he had just done.

A crackle in the speakers broke the silence.

"Sigfried's third and last Pokémon has been defeated! What a fight! 15-year-old Ash Ketchum is the new Pokémon Master! Congratulations Ash!"

Suddenly, the crowds began to cheer and celebrate their new hero they had gotten so acquainted with over the past few years.

This was when Ash finally realized he was not alone with his opponent like so often when he had battled in the wild.

He had won.

He actually was the Pokémon Master.

Finally.

Once more, his childlike behavior broke through the surface and Ash ran onto the battlefield to give his most precious friend a hug.

Thinking the same, his buddy ran up to him and jumped into his arms.

Never before had they felt so completely satisfied.

Yet he was still lacking something.

He was lacking somebody.

Misty still sat in her seat in the TV room and stared at the screen as if she had been hypnotized. Unbelievingly, she watched Ash Ketchum fight his most important stand, and win!

Though she had always known Ash would someday win the Pokémon League and become a Pokémon Master, she still was surprised when it finally happened.

Even little Togepi in her lap seemingly understood what Ash and "Uncle Pikachu" had achieved and cheered loudly. 

Misty watched quietly, but with a proud smile on her face, as Ash gave his first interview.

And he did better than she had ever imagined. While she had been traveling with him, Ash had still been incredibly immature and childish, but he obviously had matured during the years they hadn't seen each other.

The interview went on several minutes, questioning Ash about every single period of his life, up till the part when he had traveled with his friends, and finally coming up to the events of the present day…

"So, Mr. Ketchum, this has been an incredible fight. I bet everybody's heart skipped a beat as your opponent's Gyarados easily reflected your Pikachu's thunder attacks. What about you? Did you feel self assured all the time? And how did you ever think of the attack that finally made you the new Pokémon Master?"

"Well", Ash answered, smiling brightly, "He surely surprised me with what he did. I had never seen a water Pokémon react that way before, and at first, I thought I was about to lose the fight, but then I remembered all the things someone once taught me about water Pokémon, like what their weak points are. One just lead to the other."

"Oh, so you had a teacher to learn more about Pokémon? Did you attend a PokéTek University?"

"Oh no", Ash answered, slightly laughing as he remember how he had been taught in the ways of Pokémon training. "I never went to University. Like I already said, I started my Pokémon Journey at the age of 10, and on the very first day I met a girl who had specialized on water Pokémon as her sisters lead the Cerulean City Gym. She always gave me good advice, and though I was sometimes, well always, to stubborn to admit it, I really appreciated her help and criticism. If it hadn't been for her, I would never have come this far. I wouldn't even have won enough badges to challenge other trainers in the league."

Ash turned his face away from the interviewer and now directly looked into the camera, as if he knew he had caught Misty's gaze.

"Thank you, Misty. Thanks for everything. I can't wait for the next time I see you to talk to you in person", and with a smirk he added, "I still owe you one."

Misty's heart almost leaped out of her breast. Never before had Ash really thanked her for anything, and especially not in public. 

She could feel a warm red rush up to her cheeks as she repeated his words over and over. 

"Good for you to remember…" she said, grinning like before, posing a riddle to her friend Hitomi who had been watching the fight with her.

"What did he mean by: I still owe you one? Is there anything you should tell me, Misty?" Hitomi grinned, obviously most interested in what was going on between her friend and the new Pokémon Master. 

"It'snothing really. Nothing important…" Misty replied, watching the rest of the interview with dreamy eyes.

"But there is one thing I have to admit…" Hitomi started, pondering over the Ash and his behavior as shown on the screen.

Misty turned around to her, somewhat curious about what her friend was about to reveal.

"He is really cute, just as you said. Even cuter than on the pictures you've got."

Hitomi smirked as she noticed the somewhat embarrassed, but still happy expression on Misty's face.

She hadn't seen her like this before. Never so content, so glad, so…

In love.

Ash sighed. This was surely the most exhausting day in his whole life.

Sitting at the table, he tried to follow one of the many conversations held about his victory just some hours ago.

But eventually, Ash just was not able to pay attention to anything. He drifted from one conversation to the other just to start daydreaming again. 

He had often been thinking about this day before, but in his imagination it had always been very different from what it really was now. 

In his imagination, he had been celebrating with all his friends he had got to know during his journey: Prof Oak, Brock, Tracy, Snap, and, most of all Misty. 

It had now been three years since the two of them had seen each other, though Ash was sure Misty had watched his fight in the TV. All he hoped was that she had watched long enough to hear him thank her for what she had done for him.

Ash smiled. She surely had been watching long enough, he could bet on that. 

And just two more years and he would finally see her again. Then he would be able to tell her what he had wanted to tell her desperately for the past years. 

He could finally confess his inner thoughts and feelings. And from the way she had acted when she had said her good-byes, Ash assumed that she shared his feelings.

Slowly, he brought his hand up to his cheek, up to the exact spot she had kissed him.

Smiling, he recalled that one moment of completeness, of total contentment. He had felt so in tune with everything, and for the first time, even with himself that he had been simply overwhelmed by his feelings.

Not to think what would happen when they would share their first _real _kiss.

Realizing what he was thinking about, Ash slightly blushed, but still smiling about his dream.

_Someday,_ he thought to himself.

_One special day in less than two years…_

_ _

_ _

_A/n: Finally finally__J__ It took me really long to post this chapter/Part, actually. But I got a really good excuse for that: I've been on vacation in the US for three weeks and thus haven't been able to write a lot. And if you should recognize that this chapter is written worse than the ones before, let me explain this with my jet-lag. I started writing this when I came back home, after about 27 hours without sleep, and I'm writing on now, while I'm still really exhausted and not able to concentrate on anything that much. _

_But first, what do y'all think about this chapter? Realizing I had been writing too many parts without really getting on with the plot, I finally decided to write one of the most important events in the story, or Ash and Misty's lives. After having written this Pokémon Master part, I think I will go on fast, so that at least the chapter after the next one will deal with Ash's and Misty's reunion. But you will have to wait for it. If you can't just email me, ask the questions you want answered and I will try to reply as soon as possible._

_P.S.: About that fight: I know it wasn't really imaginative, but I'm not that good at Pokémon fights, that's why I chose the topic Romance and not Adventure__J___

_But hope you like it anyways. I'll try to post the next chapter within a couple of days._

_Thanks so much for reading this,Tifa (the sleep-lacking author__J__)_


	8. Chapter8 - Reunion

Final chapter - Reunion

_I actually behave like a lovesick little schoolgirl_, she thought, letting out a deep sigh.

_But, well, that's not totally wrong_. Smiling, she turned around, now lying on her back, with little Togepi still playing happily on the floor. 

_Well, finally, tomorrow…_ she thought, gazing over to her alarm clock. _Tomorrow will be THE day…_

Too excited to just go to sleep, Misty once more jumped to her feet andwent over to Togepi.

"Hey cutie", she said, gently picking up her small Pokémon, "It's time for bed now. We'll have a long day tomorrow. You know", she started, taking a slight pause, smiling, "tomorrow you will see Uncle Pikachu again."

"Toge prrrriiii?"Togepi looked up at its mommy, nuances of disbelief showing on its face.

"Yes, you will also see all the other Pokémon: Bulbasaur, Squirtle… Everybody…"

"Toge Toge prrrriiii?"

Misty blinked at Togepi's comment, but then started smiling.

"Yup, your daddy as well."

It had somehow surprised Misty thatTogepi was calling Ash its Daddy, but actually it was just natural. Ash was the male person Misty had the most contact with, even if he was hundreds of miles away at the moment. Plus Ash was the second person it had seen.

But the best explanation was even the easiest: Togepi regarded Ash as Misty's mate, which was not wrong at all, Misty added with a smirk.

Tomorrow was the day of her graduation, starting with getting their graduation degrees, which would take up most of the morning, ensued by the famous graduation ball in the evening.

Yet the most important thing about the following day had nothing to do with her graduation, nor with her school in general. 

It had something to do with herself, only with herself and her emotions.

Tomorrow was the day she had been looking forward for years, actually since she had left about five years ago. 

It was the day she would finally see Ash and her other friends again. 

Sure, she was looking forward to seeing all of them, but most of all Ash.

After all, she loved him more than even her own dear life, she had been able to admit that to herself finally.

And hopefully, she would be able to admit it to him tomorrow night. She had first thought about practicing what to say to him, but she knew that it would be no use. The words would either pour out of her naturally, or she would have to force herself to tell him. It didn't really matter how she'd say it, just that she would. 

Yet though she was eager for that moment to come as soon as possible, was eager to be held in his arms, eager to be kissed by him, she had a slight feeling of nervousness in her stomach.

But who wouldn't be nervous admitting his love for his best friend?

Everybody would be, I guess. 

Sighing, she put little Togepi down on a large pillow that served as its bed and went over to the large cupboard standing on the opposite side of the room. 

Slowly, shaking slightly, she put her hand on the knob and opened the container, in search for a special piece of clothing. Delicately, she caressed it with her long slender fingers, tracing the seam of her newly acquired dress. 

Smiling, she put it back in the closet.

As far as now, everything is working perfectly. I got the perfect dress and I haven't freaked out yet. Let's just hope that it goes on like this, just tomorrow.

_Please, let tomorrow be perfect, please…_

_ _

_ _

Ash sat at the kitchen table, absent mindedly fidgeting his coffee cup.

Raising an eyebrow, his older friend Brock gazed over at him.

"One penny for your thoughts", he started, but as Ash reacted andconfusedly looked over at him, he continued with a smirk, "Not that I couldn't guess them…"

Ash decided to ignore his friend and, with a sigh, turned back to his coffee cup.

"Pika pi?" Pikachu asked, twitching its ears. The small yellow mouse sat next to its trainer, looking over at him curiously, obviously irritated by the way his best friend acted. 

"It's nothing, Pikachu. I'm just… like… thinking. … about tomorrow, y'know?" 

"Ka Kachu Pi." Pikachu nodded, the expression on his face showing that it was just what he had guessed. 

"I can understand that you're nervous. I mean, you haven't seen her in years. It was some kind of abrupt separation. I mean: before, you have been with her every day, never separated, now all you two could do for five years was write letters and phone each other. And I have to admit that I as well am somewhat nervous, though it is more like apprehension."

Ash looked surprised. Sure, he had known that his friend as well missed Misty, and that for sure was not an illogical reaction to their separation, but he had never thought that he would have feelings that strong. 

"Well, being a Pokémon Master surely makes you stronger, yet it does not teach you how to handle love…" Ash stated with a sigh.

Brock and Pikachu simultaneously jerked up. This was the first time Ash had actually referred to Misty as his love.

The young Pokémon Master smiled at their reactions.

"You two still see me as the innocent kid I once was, huh?"

"Umm yeah… actually… we… ummm…" Brock started, not really knowing how to go on.

Still smiling, Ash closed his eyes and shook his head.

"You don't know at lot about me then. Well, maybe some parts of me are still the same as they once were, some pieces of me may still be the innocent, dense and stubborn little wanna-be-Pokémon-Master, but on the contrary, I sure did change a lot. Maybe I just needed to be alone to learn responsibility. All those years of just thinking made me realize some facts I had never paid attention to before, or that I knew of and simply tried to ignore to not make things more complicated.… just like my love for Misty…" he finished with a deep sigh.

Brock looked dumbfounded. Though he had noticed a change to Ash, him being more mature, he had not expected a _speech _like that.

Chapter 5: Reunion

** **

Misty woke up with a dizzy feeling and slowly rose from her bed, after a gaze at her alarm clock convinced her it was now time. 

And the countdown started.

Just about 10 more hours to go…

Ash hit his alarm clock as hard as he could and, with a grunt, turned around once more.

"Pika? Pi Pi Kachuuu?" 

"Oh shoot!" Ash was up with a jerk, already trying to get into his jeans.

Why, of all mornings, did he have to sleep through this one?

"Hey, Misty!" Hitomi ran toward her friend, wearing the same traditional blue gown that all graduates had to wear that day.

Misty waved back at her friend, half-smiling, her face showing even more nervousness and apprehensions than her friend's.

"Hey Ash, hurry up! Get your ass out here!" Brock shouted up the stairs impatiently.

"Coming coming", Ash replied as he jumped down the stairs, still tugging on his jeans.

Brock frowned as he saw the accident happen: Ash slipped on his trousers, skipped three steps and with a thud, landed right in front of his older friend, closely followed by Pikachu.

"Man, this is gonna be a long day…" Brock groaned.

Ash just grinned sheepishly. 

Sitting among her classmates, Misty sighed once again and gazed at her watch.

This is taking forever…

Rolling her eyes, she looked up to the stage where one of her fellow graduates just received his certificate. But soon, her gaze turned blank.

"Hey", Hitomi said, softly shoving her friend's ribs with her elbow. "Just wait till tonight, ok?"

Misty smiled back sheepishly, yet she still found it very hard to pay attention.

"Man, this was close", Ash said as he exhaled profoundly. 

Brock was standing next to him, his hands at his knees, still exhaling like he had just finished 20 minutes of jogging. Which was frighteningly close to reality. 

"Kachuuu…" Pikachu simply said approvingly.

Smiling brightly, Misty took her certificate of graduation and shook the headmaster's hand. Standing right behind her was Hitomi, rubbing her knuckles nervously. As Misty took a step forward to make space for her friend, she took a look at the audience.

Just a few more hours…

_ _

The ferry was getting closer and closer to its final destination, and with each inch, Ash was getting more and more nervous.

_How am I supposed to survive this_, he thought, sighing.

Well, after all itsjust a few more hours…

All the graduates were chatting happily while they made their way to the great hall.

Misty was just walking silently next to her friend, now even more nervous then before, lost in her thoughts, unconsciously rubbing her knuckles. 

She knew that everybody was about to see their relatives or best friends in less than one hour, and that everybody surely was nervous, but this was something Misty had never felt before. This was so much more than just simple apprehension.

How am I supposed to ever do this?

_ _

The ferry finally landed in the port and people began to get off, eager to see their loved ones again.

Even though Ash was surely more eager than any of the other passengers, and maybe even because of that, his legs were about to refuse service to him.

He was shaking like a little child that was suffering from a serious fever.

"Take it easy, pal. You're gonna make it, I'm sure", Brock said as he reassuringly put his hands on his young friend's shoulders. __

Ash simply nodded and closed his eyes as he carefully set one foot onto the island, taking one step toward what destiny had chosen for him.

Misty took one last look at her reflection in the mirror and ran her slender fingers through her hair, which she had let down for this occasion. 

With a sigh, she looked down on the royal blue gown she was still wearing and put her hands on her hips.

_Well, this is not really what I wanted to wear when I finally see him again, _she thought with a frown.

But, that actually leaves some surprise for tonight… 

After a last smile at her reflection in the mirror, she turned around to face Hitomi. As the time when she was going to meet her relatives came closer, even her friend had turned out to be less the cool and calm type, but more the totally nervous one.

With her lips shaking, she looked at Misty, trying to smile.

"I guess here we go now, huh?" she said, motioning toward the door.

Misty nodded and opened her mouth, but the only thing that came out of it was a simple: "Yup."

With a deep sigh from each girl, they stepped through the door, making their way to the entrance hall, their blue gowns flowing behind them.

The hall was already flooded by hundreds of students. Not only the graduates were there to welcome their relatives or friends, but they were accompanied by all the other students who wanted to know what was going on that evening, as they were not allowed to attend the graduation ball. 

A few minutes later, the loudspeaker announced the arrival of the guest and a sudden silence fell over the crowd. 

Yet it only lasted until the first guests entered the room.

Misty tried to see something, tried to make out Ash in the crowd, but she did not succeed. Suddenly, she heard somebody cry: "Look, there's a Pikachu! Oh, it's so cute!"

Misty grinned and looked in the direction the student was pointing. But before she could really see Pikachu, she noticed a yellow blur dash toward her and bump into her arms. 

Misty's grin seemed to explode as she petted the small mouse Pokémon that snuggled to her chest.

"Pika pika piiiiiiii!" Pikachu exclaimed, tears glimmering in its small dark brown eyes.

"Ya, Pikachu, I missed you, too!" Misty replied, hugging Pikachu even tighter.

"There's someone else who missed you…" a male voice sounded in her ears.

Before she even looked up, she frowned, trying to figure out whose voice is was, as it sounded so familiar and yet so unknown.

Click.

Realization struck her like a thunderbolt.

Ash, who else could it be?

Slightly hesitant, she looked up to meet her friend's gaze.

She gasped as she first looked at him. He looked so much different from the way he had looked years ago, yet it was still most obviously Ash. His black hair was still standing off his head in spikes and his eyes were still the same heart melting hazelnut brown eyes that were shining with enthusiasm and love.

Yet there was something else shining in them, Misty could only define as maturity and experience. And this was reflected in the rest of his figure as well: he had grown _a lot, _being now about 6 feet tall. Even though one could see he had a lot of practice, he was not _that _muscular, just a little more than averageJ

"Ash…" was the only thing she could force herself to mouth, before he brought her closer to him in a tight embrace. 

They stayed in each other's embrace, Misty contently resting her head against his shoulder, completely forgetting about the world around them, not even noticing the other students rush by.

He was completely lost in the embrace, never before had he felt so content.

Yet after a few moments that seemed like an eternity, they broke the embrace and looked at each other.

Ash was still astonished by the way she looked. She surely had matured a lot, the child of former days now living in the body of a young woman. Even though she wore a big gown, he could make out the form of her body. Her eyes had stayed the same aquatic greenish blue they had always been, yet they shone brighter than ever before. But what had amazed him quite a lot was the change of her hair: it was now going down past her shoulder blades, being shorter in the front. It fell down her back in soft, slight waves, caressing the sides of her face.

She was more than far away from _scrawny_ now.

Even though they had broken the embrace, he still held her hand in his, not wanting to let her go any time as he had just gotten her back after about five years of separation.

"Hi…", was all that emerged his mouth, as he simply stared at her, blushing furiously.

From behind, Brock was grinning, shaking his head.

"I figured it would be this way…" he stated, now drawing Misty's attention.

Misty hugged her older friend, finally coming back to her sense, just like Ash.

"Well, I guess I should show you your room now, so you can get ready." Misty said, her gaze already locking on Ash again.

Totally unaware of all the trouble around them, they made their way up the stairs, Ash unconsciously holding onto his love's hand.

Brock looked into the mirror, adjusting his tie.

_There is no way a girl could resist me tonight,_ he told himself, putting on a devilish grin, totally assured of himself.

There was no way he was gonna let this night pass without getting a girl, or at least trying to.

Taking one last look at the clock on the wall of their room, Brock looked out for his young friend, hoping he did not plan to be late tonight.

"Ash! Hey Ash! You done? Hurry up, man!"

As response to his question, the bathroom door slowly opened and the spiky headed youth stepped out, walking so staggery one might think he was walking on eggs.

Brock grinned.

"You're still nervous? But may I remind you that you already saw her?!"

Ash sighed, gazing at his friend, his look distant.

"But this is something else", he started with another profound sigh, considering the words to go on, yet still speaking hesitantly. "Tonight is special… it really is…"

Brock frowned confusedly, until realization lit his face.

"You're gonna tell her…" he mouthed, kind of unbelievingly. 

Ash half smiled and slowly nodded his head.

"I'm not sure if I can do it. When I was around her today, I felt like I couldn't control myself anymore. Sensations started to pour over me, and there were so many things I wanted to say, and to do, but I just couldn't. It was like some sort of paralysis… even though a pleasant one" he added the last words with a sweet smile. 

Once more these days Brock was totally surprised by his young friend. How come he had known him for so long and never really noticed that part to him?

Yet then, he realized all his friend needed now was some support and encouragement. So he stepped over to him and gently put a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry about it, Ash. You really love her, I know that, and I'm sure she loves you, too. Alas, it does not matter how you tell her, just that you do, and, believe me, when the moment is right, the words will just pour out of your mouth, without you even noticing it."

Ash smiled weakly, though he actually was encouraged by Brock's words.

Slowly, he stepped towards the mirror and looked at himself, not used to seeing himself in a tux. Carefully, he straightened his jacket and ran his fingers through his hair. 

"And, Ash?"

Ash turned around, facing his friend.

"Ya?"

"Please stop that, ok? You do look ok."

Ash mouthed a "thanks" without really saying it, took the flowers in one hand and made his way to the door.

When he was about to open it, he was once again stopped by the intervention of his friend.

"Hey Ash", Brock said grinning, giving him the thumbs up sign.

"Way to go!"

Misty stood in front of the full length mirror they had placed in her room to make the whole dress thing some easier.

Impatient and discontent, she tugged on her dress, sighing with every single movement.

Hitomi, obviously ready to go, watched her friend with amusement.

"Hey Misty, stop it, you look great!" she tried to calm Misty, but still it was just the truth.

Misty threw her hands up in the air all desperate like and started pacing the room, her high heels producing clicking sounds on the floor.

"Oh Hitomi, I'm just so nervous. What if I screw it up? If I don't know how to tell him? What if he does not feel the same way?"

"Misty", Hitomi answered, shaking her head. "You know I could slap you for this, don't you? You know as well as I do that Ash loves you. I could see that today, and I bet you did the same. So don't even dare to think about irrational stuff like that", she paused for a second, only to draw in some breath and continue tutoring her friend.

"And you are not going to screw it up. You really do love him, he loves you, so I don't see the problem. When the time is right, you will say it, and you won't think about it at that moment, so there is no use to plan anything. Just enjoy the night and see what happens, ok?"

Misty sighed, having stopped pacing around the room, smiling gratefully at her friend.

"Thanks, I think that's what I needed", and with a smirk she added. "Ok, I guess we're ready to go now, so let's try not to be late!"

Ash stood at the top of the broad stairs descending to the entrance hall and ballroom where he and Misty had agreed to meet. 

Absent-mindedly, he was fidgeting the bouquet of lovely aquamarine flowers he had brought for Misty, Brock watching him from the back. 

No matter what Brock had told Ash, he was still most nervous. And the fact that his date – namely Misty – was slightly late, did not really improve his state. 

"Ash, please stop it! You're driving me nuts!" Brock finally let out desperately, throwing his hands out in front of him. "I'm sure she's just…"

He never got to finish his sentence, as when he directed another desperate gaze at the direction from where he expected their dates, he finally spotted them, and his mind went blank.

Never leaving the girls with his gaze, he poked his friend softly in the ribs.

Ash's reaction was similar to Brock's: as he spotted Misty, he forgot about everything around them. All he could see was her and her marvelous beauty. 

Slowly, gracefully, so unlike the young Misty he had once known, the young woman walked toward him, their gazes locked onto each other. 

As she walked toward him, Ash slowly stood up to full height, straightening his tux, giving her a soft smile.

Still he could not believe how beautiful she was: her long, shiny hair was let down in its soft, natural waves, woven into it were several strands of white and aquamarine silk, that fell down onto her bare back. Her dress was tight around her hips and breast, the front collar falling in soft waves reminding of her hair. It floated down, just long enough to allow her to walk in high heels without stepping onto the seem. The color of the dress matched totally with the color of her eyes: the soft, floating silk was deep aquamarine blue, harmonic to her reddish hair.

As Misty looked down onto the flowers and smiled, Ash noticed he had made the right choice: the flowers were of aquamarine color as well. 

Ash looked up at the beauty in front of him and grinned sheepishly.

"So…" Misty finally started, trying to move on, still staring into his eyes.

"Oh", Ash said, as he watched Brock and Hitomi walking down the stairs, their arms linked.

He gave her another sweet smile and held out his arm for her to link in. 

Misty gladly accepted the offer and the reunited couple slowly went down the stairs, arm in arm.

The ballroom, formerly known as the assembly hall of the university, had undergone quite a change: it was generously decorated with flowers of all types, and long pastel colored draperies came down the high walls. Groups of tables had been planted in the room, leaving the middle of the hall unfurnished to provide space for the dances. 

Slowly but steadily, couples were strolling in, in search for their table, yet always pausing for a small chat with their acquaintances. 

After Brock and Hitomi had arrived, quietly talking to each other, Ash and Misty walked in.

However they did not speak a word to each other. All they did was look around. As a matter of fact, their gazes met several times, to stay locked for a couple of seconds, just to be separated with a serious blush on both faces. 

Hitomi, who had finally found their table, watched the scenery, smirking. The two of them surely did make a great couple, no doubt. Even though she did not need to see them together to know that. She had already had that feeling when Misty had told her about Ash and what she had experienced with him, though she'd had to pry the details out of her, and was not sure if she knew everything yet.

Well, no matter what, by the end of the night, the two would finally officially be a couple, that was for sure.

"Oh, look, there they are!" Misty said and pointed over to Brock and Hitomi, who had stopped chatting to wave at them, both grinning broadly. 

The couple slowly walked over to their friends and took place, sitting next to each other. 

After all the other graduates had arrived, the official part of the evening started, beginning with a speech of the school's headmaster, who praised that years' students for their achievements. The occasional jokes here and there softened the atmosphere and made everybody forget about the time and what they were actually waiting for.

Yet finally, the speeches ended and dinner was brought in on large trays of silver.

Like all the other students, Brock and Hitomi were chatting quietly. It kind of amazed Misty how well the two were getting along. She had not expected that her friend would be able to endure her older friend, even though he had surely changed in the other years. He was now less drooling and the sensitive and wise part of him took control now most of the time.

Still the conversation Ash and Misty were leading was quiet, mainly treating with their past adventures, seldom resulting in a little teasing which soon ended with laughter and a short silence of both blushing.

After about an hour of dining, everybody had finished and the band started to play a variety of songs, some fast rhythms, some slow ballads. 

As one of the slower ballads started, Ash took a chance and got up from his seat.

"Would you care to dance?" he asked, trying to conceal the quiver in his voice.

Misty smiled up at him and gladly accepted.

Linking arms, the two walked onto the dancing space and started dancing.

Slowly, they gave in to the soft tune and simply held each other, Misty resting her head on his shoulder, Ash embedding his chin in her soft reddish hair, inhaling its sweet scent.

Time passed by, songs ended, new ones began, couples left the dance floor, others entered, yet Ash and Misty simple held onto each other.

_This is perfect, almost perfect,_ Ash thought, _But something is missing. The scenery… Probably…_

Ash woke himself from his daydream and took a step backward, separating himself from Misty.

Yet he regretted it in the same instance as he recognized Misty's irritated and surprised expression. Questioningly, she looked at him, demanding an answer why he had broken the contact that had felt so perfect for both of them.

Ash just smiled down at her, softly shaking his head. 

"No, Misty, don't look at me like that. There's nothing to worry about."

He took a slight pause to consider his next words. __

"Misty, would you like to take a walk with me? Just outside on the beach, I mean. It's not that busy there, and tonight is quite beautiful."

He could hardly believe he had said those words. Some years ago he would have thought them to be crappy romantic, and would never have dare to use them himself.

Yet they had just the effect he wanted them to have.

Misty smiled at him, relieved, and nodded.

After telling Hitomi and Brock that they were going to take a short walk, the made their way outside and to the beach.

The late summer's night was lukewarm and brightly illuminated by a full moon that was accompanied by billions of glimmering stars, witnesses of thousands of love stories in thousands of decades. 

The water was crashing onto the shore in small waves, creating a relaxing background sound.

The young couple just stood there for several minutes, simply savoring the beauty of the night of their final reunion.

Until Ash's gaze left the sky and fell upon another heavenly thing within his reach: his Misty.

All he had to do now was find the right words, as this was absolutely the most perfect time for his confession.

Seemingly, Misty had had a similar idea, because in the instance he started to talk to her, she turned around to him and spoke as well.

Surprise was followed by amusement and the two teenagers softly laughed at this coincidence.

"Ladies first", Ash tried, but Misty only shook her head and smirked back at him.

"Nope, you first, you were the one that started."

Ash let out a deep sigh. She had always been a little thickhead, and anyways, it was just going the way he wanted it to.

Slowly, carefully, he took her small, fragile hands in his and looked deep into her eyes.

This was it, this was the final moment.

"Misty", he started, quivering inside, yet surprised at how sturdy he sounded. 

"I… I have actually thought about this moment so many times before, have thought about the words to say, yet now, when it is about time to say what I want, I just don't know how to start…"

Misty smiled at him heartily.

"That's okay. Just take your time."

Ash in- and exhaled once more and looked down to plug up the courage he desperately needed now.

"Misty, from the very first day that I met you, when you fished me out of that river and commanded me to take Pikachu to a doctor – that was when I borrowed your bike", 

Misty commented this sentence with a smirk, yet stayed calm to not interrupt him,

"I felt that certain liking for you. You were always so sensible, and clever for your age. You gave me lots of good pieces of advice, without which I surely would never have become what I now am. And as our journey went on, my feelings for you became even stronger. You always supported me. You helped me through the hardest times in my life. And you never actually expected anything in return. You were always there, and I took that for granted. I took you for granted. Yet I was taught the opposite when you got the offer to study here and you actually took. I still regret the hard time I gave you back then. I've been really stupid and insensitive. It was not then for our years of separation that I noticed how much I missed you, and needed you. My feelings for you grew stronger every day, and I felt nearly torn apart not having you around. I would have done everything to be with you then. I missed you, your sweet smiles, your cheering laughter that always made me laugh in return, your encouraging words when I needed them most, you telling me what was right when I was on the wrong way, I even missed your teasing. I just plainly missed all about you, I missed you and could not do anything about it.

That was when I finally realized that I love you. That I loved you when we first met and that I still love you now, that we meet again after five years of separation. I love you more than even my own life. And now that I have you back, there I no way I'm ever gonna let you go again."

At the last part, Ash had closed his eyes, half fearing her reaction. 

Misty plainly started at him, her eyes filled with tears of joy.

This was by far the best moment in her entire life.

So he did feel the same way she did. And it had taken them five years of separation to realize it.

"Oh Ash", she said, touching his cheek with her delicate fingertips. 

Ash slowly opened his eyes, still fearing her reaction. Yet as he saw the tears rushing down her cheek to meet the smile on her lips, tears broke lose from his own eyes, flooding his whole face.

Yet another of those romantic crappy things, but he did not care about that anymore. He would never more.

"I love you, too, Ash. I love you from the very beginning. Why did it just take us that long to realize?"

Ash shrugged his shoulders, bringing her closer to him.

"Maybe we just needed that separation to realize it. Maybe we never would have when we'd stayed together."

"I don't even wanna think about that. And I don't have to. Everything has worked out just perfect."

She ended with a smile and brought her lips up to his.

Their tears created one single stream of joy as the two teenagers finally united and became one being.

Never before had so many sensations poured upon the two of them, so overwhelming, yet no one dared to break this seal of love. Of the love they had been sharing for years now, secretly hidden deep within each others heart, and now exposed to be the very meaning of their lives. Their lives with each other, never to be separated.

And so they stayed locked to each other under the brightly shining moonlight.

After all, they had always been _more than just childhood friends._

_ _

The End (?)

A/n: Yay! This is it! Finally! I'd never thought I'd actually get this far with the story and I'm so relieved that it's done, even though it was lots of fun writing it. What does everybody think about this ending? Should I write a sequel to it? If you want one, just tell me, I'd be really pleased.

But first: Thank you all for having the patience to wait for each single chapter as I know that it always takes me a long time to post them. Thanks for sticking around this far, and for reading and reviewing, which always animated me to go on.

If you liked this chapter, or read it at all, please tell me and review.

Thank you all, this would never have been possible without you!


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